Our journey in the Autism Spectrum

Posts tagged ‘nervous’

Today is the day we I have been dreadingworrying about anticipating for so long. We’ve been preparing for this day for over a year; occupational therapy/sensory integration therapy, speech/language therapy and pragmatics, ABA, fine motor skills, self-calming techniques and coping skills, social skills, countless social stories and most recently several trips to his new school along with a practice bus ride. So many brilliant, wonderful teachers and therapists have played such an important role in our lives!!! We could not have done it without them! All for Henry’s first day of mainstream (full day!) Kindergarten … and beyond.

It’s been a few hours since he climbed right up on that bus. No fuss, no muss. Surprisingly, I haven’t yet shed a tear. A wonderful friend stopped by with some beautiful flowers. We chatted about our boys’ new experiences over coffee. I am feeling slightly less anxious. I will be busy today which I hopewill be helpful .

I am remembering the conversation I had last night with my little dude at bedtime. We talked a bit about what his day will be like. He was anxious I could tell.

“Are you nervous about tomorrow, Hen? It’s okay to be nervous.”

“I’m a little scared about it, Mom.”

“Can you tell me what you are scared about?”

“I don’t like people looking at me. I don’t like them to know my name.”

We talked about things he could do to be a little less scared. We talked about his classroom and his new teacher. I reminded him that sharing his name with others helps to make friends and that the more he does it the easier it will be and the less scared he will be. He seemed doubtful so I asked, “Well, what do you think would make it less scary for you?”

“Well, I could change my name.” He tells me, laughing!

“Change your name? What would you change it too?

“I don’t know…how about Komondo?” he says with a new burst of giggles.

This prompts his sister to chime in from across the room,”How do you spell that, Henry?”

The next few minutes are spent sounding out the new name and picking letters that work to spell it out. He’s done with our “serious” conversation.

It’s time for them to settle down and get some sleep so I try one last ditch effort to assure myself him that everything will be okay.

“Hey, Henry, it’s time for sleep. Big day tomorrow and it’s really going to be awesome, you know!”

He got serious and looked right at me with his eyebrows raised, “Mom, it is not going to be awesome.” I couldn’t really argue with that…

“But you know what?” I prompted. “It may not be exactly awesome, Henry, but it will be OKAY. And each day will get easier. And soon it will be awesome.”

For some reason he did seem to really take this in and accept it. At least in that moment.

“Okay, Mom.” We said our good-nights and both my littlest ones settled in for sleep.

Everyone slept through the night! We kept this morning as routine as possible and just added in waiting-for-the-bus and getting-on-the -bus as if it were nothing too out of the ordinary.

Now I guess I will go on about my day. I have much work to do and still one more chameleon to get to school this afternoon. Then I am off to do a short talk at TouchPoint Autism Services. It will go by fast. The morning has already flown by! (Thank you Tracy!!!)

And soon enough Komondo will be home again! His first day of Kindergarten completed!